Barry Stack had a crush, which was a bit of an issue for a column of Portland stone, cast adrift by the tectonic gods in a sea of alluvial waste. From the snooty Boulders over to the west, through the hard working Gravel families grinding out a living by the river to the much despised Rubble gang crumbling to dirt in the eastern reaches, everyone he saw was loose and ovoid.

Barry spent several millennia indifferent to their grumblings, minding his own place high above the plain, until after one particularly hard quake the youngest Boulder sister rolled across his footings.

Olympia Boulder was polished like all the Boulders, attending nature’s glacial finishing school for several hundred years. She had seen the world, crossed continents and now she rested at his feet.

Barry creaked and groaned but she ignored him. He felt certain she was unhappy with him and tried to understand why.

In the end Kevin Pebble a hyperactive cousin of Pa Gravel explained. ‘She just wants to be back with her sisters. She needs another earth tremor.’

Barry gave this some thought. He knew he had to do something. Much as he wished, calling up an earthquake was beyond him. However for eons he had been holding together his fissures, knowing that to let go would risk rendering him more Stump than Stack. But love, even for rock, is a powerful emotion and Barry knew he had to let go for the one he now knew he loved.

So at the end of one glorious day, he did just that. As the dust settled and Olympia rolled back towards her family he turned a mournful gaze on her departure. His eyes shone with tears of both joy and despair.

In that moment, he caught sight of his shadow and the odd triangular shape that now comprised his summit. In one monumental act of self sacrifice, Barry Stack had invented the party hat.

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About TanGental

My name is Geoff Le Pard. Once I was a lawyer; now I am a writer. I've published four books - Dead Flies and Sherry Trifle, My Father and Other Liars, Salisbury Square and Buster & Moo. In addition I have published three anthologies of short stories and a memoir of my mother. More will appear soon. I will try and continue to blog regularly at geofflepard.com about whatever takes my fancy. I hope it does yours too.
These are my thoughts and no one else is to blame. If you want to nab anything I post, please acknowledge where it came from.

Reblogged this on Smorgasbord – Variety is the spice of life and commented:
Sue Vincent set a photo challenge with this atmospheric shot of a tower. Geoff Le Pard has risen to the occasion with his usual unique style and written a love story with a difference…